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Artists > T > TOMOZAWA Kotao
TOMOZAWA Kotao
友沢 こたお
1999 Born in Bordeaux, France
2022 Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Painting, Oil Painting Course
2024 Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Master of Oil Painting Course
Kotao Tomozawa was born in 1999, in Bordeaux, France, she lived in Paris until the age of five. Tomozawa came to Japan in 2004 and is currently studying at Tokyo University of the Arts, majoring in oil painting, while also participating in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Tomozawa’s unique portraits, combining slime-like materials and organic motifs, realistically depict texture, translucency, and softness, leaving an unforgettable impact once seen. Tomozawa’s works, in which extreme cruelty is wrapped up with the utmost gentleness, have many facets like an extract of this world boiled down, but the expression itself is extremely simple.
In 2019, Tomozawa formed the art unit "Tororoen" with her own mother, Mimiyo Tomozawa. In the same year, she won the Kume Keiichiro Prize, and in 2020, she was selected for the Art Plaza Grand Prize at the University of the Arts. Major exhibitions include "caché" (Hankyu Men's Tokyo tagboat) and "Tagboat Artshow" (Hankyu Men's Tokyo) in 2021, "remix" (3331artschiyoda) and "Pomme d'amour" (3331artschiyoda) in 2020. Pomme d'amour" (mograg gallery), "MIND THE GAP" (THE blank GALLERY).
Exhibition
2020
“remix” (3331artschiyoda / Tokyo)
“Shibuya Style” (SEIBU SHIBUYA / Tokyo)
“WAVE2020” (3331artschiyoda / Tokyo)
“MIND THE GAP” (THE Blank GALLERY / Tokyo)
“Mocozo × Art Exhibition” (Pearl Bookshop & Gallery / Tokyo)
“silence” (Meguro Museum of Art Kumin Gallery / Tokyo)
“Paper Insect Collection Exhibition” (billiken gallery / Tokyo)
“Axe Cover Exhibition” (billiken gallery / Tokyo)
“tororoen II” (trance pop gallery / Tokyo)
“Geidai Art Plaza Grand Prize 2020” (geidai art plaza / Tokyo)
2021
"caché" (tagboat / Tokyo)
"Everything but…" (Tokyo International Gallery / Tokyo)
"nine colors XV" (SEIBU SHIBUYA / Tokyo)
"KITO Kento × USUKUBO Kaoru recommended artists exhibition" (SEIBU SHIBUYA / Tokyo)
2022
"Monochrome" (FORM CONTEMPORARY / Tokyo)
"SPIRALE" (PARCO MUSEUM TOKYO / Tokyo)
"INSPIRER" (Tokyo International Gallery / Tokyo)
2023
"SLIME" (The Landmark / Hong Kong)
Kotao Tomozawa Collection Exhibition “Moment” (SEIBU SHIBUYA / Tokyo)
2024
faces "GALLERY CURU / Bangkok, Thailand)
Awards
2020 Selected for Art Plaza Grand Prize, Tokyo University of the Arts
2019 Kume Award
Slime LIV
Oil on canvas
Signed on the reverse
[Year] 2021
[Size] 1167mm × 910mm (F50)
[Gallery] TOKYO INTERNATIONAL GALLERY
Slime LXXIX
Oil on canvas
Signed on the reverse
[Year] 2021
[Size] 1167mm × 910mm (F50)
[Gallery] Bunkamura Box Gallery
Slime XXVIII
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2020
[Size] 242mm × 333mm
Drawings
Paper, Pen, Acrylic, Collage
Signed
[Year] 2023
[Size] 595mm × 842mm (frame)
Slime CL
Digital Printing
Signed
[Year] 2022
[Size] 841mm × 594mm
[Edition] Ed.10
Slime XCVII
Alpolic
Signed
[Year] 2021
[Size] 440mm × 340mm
[Edition] Ed.25
Slime CXXIII
Aluminum board, UV direct printing
Signed
[Year] 2022
[Size] 434mm × 343mm
[Edition] Ed.25
Slime CIV
Screen printing
Signed
[Year] 2023
[Size] 670mm × 490mm（paper）/ 570mm × 390mm（print）/ 862mm × 662mm（frame）
[Edition] Ed.30
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